Natural & Historic Environment
Some of London's best kept secrets are London Thames Gateway's stunning landscapes and natural scenery. With its unique riverside setting, the region provides rich natural habitats for a plethora of bird species and wildfowl. This is particularly visible in Rainham where an RSPB reserve, set amongst the riverside marshlands, acts as a home to some of Britain's rarest feathered friends.
The region has been inhabited for more than 450,000 years, meaning there is also an abundance of archaeological sites and buildings which reflect London Thames Gateway's important role in maritime, military and social history. In fact, English Heritage has classified 140 Historical Environment Character Areas (HECA) throughout the wider Thames Gateway, ranging from large expanses of the south Essex coastal plains, through to small historic town centres. Each HECA has a unique and distinctive range of historic environmental attributes that set it apart from other areas within the Thames Gateway. As many sites are reportedly still to be discovered, visitors may even unearth their own piece of history!
Budding historians would be interested to learn that English Heritage has also designated a number of landscapes as Historic Parks and Gardens. These range from: the Grade I Greenwich; the Grade II* Cobham Park, with its 16th/17th century deer park, grounds designed by Repton, and buildings by Wyatt; to the Grade II cemetery at Gravesend and the Grade II* landscape at Thorndon Park which was designed by ‘Capability' Brown in the 18th century, and is now a country park managed by Essex County Council.
Other buildings of particular interest include the Royal Arsenal www.royal-arsenal.co.uk at Woolwich, unmarked on historic maps due to its prime strategic importance, and considered by some to be one of the most important sites on the Thames downstream from London Bridge. At its peak, during World War 1, the Royal Arsenal extended over some 1300 acres (5.3 km²) and employed around 80,000 people. The Royal Arsenal by then housed the Royal Gun Factory, the Royal Shell Filling Factory (which closed in 1940), the Research and Development Department and the Chief Chemical Inspector, Woolwich (the successor to the War Department Chemist). The expansion was such that in 1915 the Government built the 1300-home 'Well Hall Estate' in Eltham to help accommodate the workforce
In 1886 workers at the Arsenal formed a football club initially known as Dial Square, after the workshops in the heart of the complex, playing their first game on 11 December (a 6-0 victory over Eastern Wanderers) in the Isle of Dogs. Renamed Royal Arsenal two weeks later (and also known as the 'Woolwich Reds'), the club entered the professional football league as Woolwich Arsenal in 1893. Today it is known simply as Arsenal F.C., having moved to north London in 1913.
Deptford was home to Britain's ship building community from the 16th century to the 1960s and 1970s. Most of Henry VIII's fleet was built there and throughout the centuries some of the world's most important voyages began at Deptford. Among other famous ships, HM Brig Supply was built here before her voyage to Australia in the 1780s, thereby becoming the ship from which Australia was founded.
The Government has made a commitment to protecting the region's historical past and emphasising the rich landscapes and natural habitats as part of its strategic development plans. This includes proposals for the creation of new parks and open spaces alongside new housing and infrastructure.
The biggest open space in London is the Lee Valley Regional Park www.leevalleypark.org.uk, stretching north from the Thames in a long, thin chain of green spaces up to Hertfordshire. Greenwich Royal Park encompasses the oldest enclosing brick wall in the UK and offers stunning views across the Thames Gateway region and west to central London.
